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A review of case histories of mother-infant pairs who attended a lactation clinic between January and December, 1989 is presented. The results show that the majority of mothers consulting the clinic perceive their lactation problems as 'insufficient breast milk production'. Factors which might have contributed to early lactation failure include: delayed initiation of breast feeding, use of prelacteal feeds, infrequent breast feeds by day and night, and early supplementation. The latter was especially common in this clinic sample: 69.6 per cent of infants were on regular supplementation by 4 months of age. The need is stressed for research into such breast feeding failures, revitalize community-based breast feeding support, as well as assessing the knowledge, attitude, and practices of health workers concerning breast feeding.